Chant Subscription series concert

About the programme

There are two high holidays in this program by Artistic Partner Steven Isserlis. A Kol Nidrei is traditionally sung before the Jewish Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur. Max Bruch heard this prayer in the Jewish communities of his native Rhineland and adapted its “most splendid melody” (Bruch) into a concert piece for cello and orchestra. 

Haydn's plaintive symphony “Lamentatione” is a formal experiment. It is one of Haydn's few minor-key symphonies and, as a secular work, quotes liturgical melodies and material from traditional Austrian Passion Plays. 

Anton Arenski's second string quartet, reworked as a chamber symphony, is also a lament, written in memory of Arenski’s teacher, Tchaikovsky. The dark tones come from the unusual instrumentation: two cellos instead of two violins. Steven Isserlis then plays Haydn's D major concerto, a bright contrast to this “Lamentatione” program.